Help choose towns for December Colorado trip

Last December, my mom and I took a trip to Breckenridge and Vail, and it was AMAZING. We went XC skiing, snowshoeing, did lots of shopping, exploring, just walked around the towns, rode the gondola, etc. We spent about 5 days between the 2 towns. It was so Christmas-y and festive and we loved the cute small town Hallmark vibes (especially Breck Main Street).

We are planning a similar trip for this December but thinking about visiting some different towns. We really want to do Crested Butte, but kind of stumped because the next town we’d love to combine it with is Ouray, but not crazy about the 2.5 hour drive. It was nice last year because we just had a 45 min drive between Breck and Vail, and we don’t want to spend a big chunk of the trip in the car. We’d like to make it roughly 5 days again and hoping to see 2-3 towns.

If we started with Crested Butte, is it worth it to make the drive to Ouray? Are there any other towns in between we should stop in? Or are there just different towns altogether that would give the same festive atmosphere and activities we want and reduce the drive time?

Thanks in advance!!